Domestic appliance



Aug. 7, 1956 G. c. PEARCE DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed Sept. 30, 1952 IINVENTOR.

geo'rge C. Pearce WW United States Patent DOMESTIC APPLIANCE =George C. Pearce, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to a domestic appliance and more particularly to a hinge arrangement for domestic ovens.

It is an object of my invention to provide a hinge arrangement with a simple adjustment which does not materially increase the number of parts or increase the difficulty of assembly.

It is another object of my invention to provide a hinge bracket with a stable resiliently anchored hinge arm which may be easily adjusted by a setscrew.

These objects are attained by providing a bracket having a long slot therein forming a long resilient hinge arm. The hinge arm is provided with brackets on opposite sides which slidably engage the anchored portion of the bracket. The bracket is also used to support the door counterbalancing arrangement as well as the resilient cam mechanism for holding the door in the closed position or in the partly open broil position. A simple setscrew extending between the anchored portion of the bracket and a portion fixed to the hinge arm provides a simple adjustment for the location of the hinge pin of the door.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a domestic oven embodying one form of my invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to Figure 1 there is shown in section a metal horizontal wall portion at the side of the wall 22 of an oven. The front of the oven is adapted to be closed by the door 24. Sometimes such doors do not hang straight when assembled to the oven. For the purpose of adjusting and controlling the door 24 there is provided a hinge bracket 26 having a flange 28 which is fastened by the bolt 30 which extends through a fore and aft adjusting slot in the horizontal wall 20. The fore and aft horizontal adjustment of the hinge bracket 26 is obtained by placing the bracket 26 in its proper position and fastening it in this position by the bolt 30. Instead of being rigid, the bracket 26 is provided by my invention with a long horizontal slot 32 which extends from the right end to a circular cutout portion 34. This forms an elongated resilient hinge arm 36 having an extension 38 carrying the hinge pin 40 making a pivotal connection with the door 24. Fastened to opposite sides of the hinge arm 36 by welding or other suitable means are two opposite L-shaped brackets 42 and 44. These engage the sides of the anchored portion 46 of the bracket 26. These two brackets laterally stabilize the hinge arm 36 so as to prevent lateral movement of the door 24.

These brackets also serve other purposes. The bottom of the L-shaped bracket 42 is engaged by the setscrew 48 provided with a lock nut 50 below the horizontal wall 20 and a second lock nut 52 resting upon a flange 56 of the anchored portion 46 of the bracket 26. The flange 56 rests upon the sheet metal 54 which in turn rests upon the 2,757,663 Patented Aug. 7, 1956 horizontal wall 20. Thus in this arrangement the setscrew 48 not only serves as a setscrew to adjust vertically the distance of the hinge arm 36 from the anchored portion 46 but it also serves as a second bolt extending through a fore and aft slot in the horizontal wall 20 for fastening the anchored portion 46. This is not bolted until the bolt 30 is fastened and the setscrew 48 is adjusted.

The door 24 is provided with a cam arm 58. This cam arm 58 is provided with a projection 60 which may be used to limit the opening movement of the door 24. This arm 58 is also provided with a V-shaped cam surface 62 which is engaged on one side by the cam roller 64 when the door 24 is in closed position to serve as a resilient latch holding the door 24 tightly closed. The cam roller 64 is provided upon the lower end of a bell crank lever 66 pivoted upon the pin 68 to the hinge arm 36. The opposite end of the bell crank lever 66 is connected by a tension coil spring '70 to the bottom of the L-shaped bracket 44 as is shown in Figure 2.

A counterbalancing spring member 72 is connected to the end of the door arm 58 and extends over the pulley 74 to a point of anchorage substantially as illustrated in my Patent No. 2,550,161, issued April 24, 1951. This counterbalancing spring 72 provides a downward pull upon the arm 58 which holds the lower side of the cam surface 62 in contact with the roller cam follower 64 when the door 24 is in the slightly open position for broiling. The roller 74 is rotatably mounted upon a projection 76 at the left end of the bracket 26. Thus the bracket 26 not only provides an adjustable hinge arm but also provides for substantially all of the door controlling functions. Since the adjusting setscrew and the brackets 42 and 44 serve double functions, the cost of providing the adjustable hinge arrangement is kept at a minimum. By this vertical and horizontal adjusting arrangement, the door 24 can always be properly located.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A range including a range oven, a bracket having an anchoring portion mounted upon the oven, said bracket having a long hinge arm, a door for closing said oven, said door being pivotally connected to said hinge arm, said bracket including said hinge arm extending transversely to the pivoting axis of the connection, said door being provided with a door arm having a camming arrangement, a movable cam follower mounted upon said hinge arm, spring means extending between said cam follower and said hinge arm for holding said cam follower in engagement with said camming arrangement upon said door arm, and adjusting means extending between the anchoring portion and the hinge arm for adjusting the position of said door.

2. A hinge arrangement including a bracket having an anchoring portion, a long resilient hinge arm extending from said anchoring portion for pivotally supporting a door, brackets fastened to opposite sides of said hinge arm slidably engaging opposite sides of said anchoring portion for laterally stabilizing said arm, and a setscrew mounted in said anchoring portion for engaging one of said brackets.

3. A door and hinge arrangement including a bracket having an anchoring portion, a long hinge arm extending from the anchoring portion, said arm being provided with a transverse pivoting arrangement, a door pivotally connected to said pivoting arrangement, a movable cam follower mounted upon said arm, spring means extending between said cam follower and said hinge arm, said door having a cam arm extending into operative relationship with said cam follower, and a set screw extendingfrom 3 said anchoring portion to said hinge arm for adjusting the position of the hinge arm and the door relative to the anchoring portion.

4. A hinge arrangement including a sheet member provided with an anchoring projection extending substantially at right angles to the major portion of the sheet member, said sheet member adjacent one end-being provided with apivot pin aperture, said sheet member being provided with a long slot having an open end between but spaced from both said pivot pin aperture and said anchoring projection, said slotextending toward theopposite end of the sheet member and being provided with a closed end, and adjusting means for adjusting the width of said slot adjacent said one end.

.5. A hinge arrangement including a sheet member provided with an anchoring projection extending substantially at. right angles to. the major portion of the sheet member, said sheet member adjacent one end being provided with aapivot pin aperture, said sheet member being provided with a long slot having an open end between but spaced 4 from both said pivot pin aperture and said anchoring projection, said slot extending toward the opposite end of the sheet member and being provided with a closed end, and adjusting means for adjusting the width of said slot adjacent said one end, said sheet member being provided with lateral guide means for preventing diverse movement perpendicular to the plane of the sheet member on opposite sides of the guide means.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 794,454 Davis et al July 11, 1905 822,279 Jones June 5, 1.906 938,952 Berg Nov. 2, 1909 2,036,513 Wagner Apr. 7, 1936 2,373,955 Fuller Apr. 17, 1945 2,425,365 Davidson Aug. 12, 1947 2,447,341 Johnson Aug. 17, 1948 2,586,573 Slopa Feb. 19, 1952 

